So I finished HL2

[Saltpeter]

Yeah, sue me for being late. I only bought it this spring (whilst being a member here for over 4 years...hmmm:upstare: ) Despite my GFX sometimes freezing it up, I still completed it.
I went into the game knowing pretty much squat about the storyline, weaponry and most of the enemies (everything that didn't appear in the E3 trailer was, well, unknown to me), to keep my OMGWTF's at a maximum. And now I'm done, I feel like summing up the good and the bad parts to bore you guys with things you already know. Ain't I just the nice guy.

Cool things:

• The 3D engine. I had a blast with those physics puzzles. Everything looked the bunch as well..it's just the little things, like the shattering windows and the power plugs for the force fields. What I find the most amazing feat of it however is that it can do this much on computers that don't need to be all too chunky. Hats off to Valve for that.
• The Gravity Gun. I had a blast picking up circular saws, and then slicing zombies in half. The way it was incorporated into various puzzles (making bridges and all that) was also beautifully done.
  I had an even bigger blast picking up soldiers and shooting them at other soldiers with the Gravity Gun v666 though. Oh, and ripping off entire consoles and screens from walls with that thing...that really freaked me out. Every time you come across a regiment of soldiers and rip off a console that's bigger than yourself you feel like going 'BRING IT ONNNN!'
• The Pheropods, coinciding with the Antlions. Man, seeing those lions fly out, entering bunkers and ripping Combine soldiers apart reminded me of Starship Troopers.
• Being able to set up turrets. A puzzle on its own on how to create a defense that's as efficient as possible.
• The city atmosphere when you enter the roof of the Suppressor Generator building. Guns firing, things being blown up, drop ships and gunships flying around the scene. You really feel like the shiat has hit the fan, and the resistance is going for it.
• The firefight in the shot-up building before you're entering the Citadel. Full-scale war, in a totally destroyed city environment. The view from the top floor while the fighting is going on totally blew me away. Like you're on the set of 'Enemy At The Gates'
• The Ravenholm level. This must've been fun to design, as all those traps were amazingly fun to put to the test. Oh, and the father is a namesake of mine. How cool.
• The Citadel ride. Very Matrix-like.
• The fast zombies. Hell yeah. (although I think they should've been more damaging. They're scary alright, but they're dogs with a bark worse than their bite)
• The poison headcrabs. Genius if you ask me. They not only drain 99% of your health, they're also black, which makes them IDEAL to lurk into dark crevices, surprising you in a far worse way than the classic crabs do.
• Dog. He's like a big walking Gravity Gun on steroids, picking up stuff bigger than himself and hurling it at rather unfortunate NPC's. (that, and the fact he's pretty much as cuddly as a young puppy. Well, if you think away the armor and...stuff)

And last but not least...

• The Shotgun. My all-round weapon of choice (if only because it makes people fly backwards). Works a treat against pretty much everything, and everyone.

Bad things. Yes, I'm sorry. They're not too major, but still.

• The game lacked a boss. Yes, it did. Lobbing small energyballs in a big energyball isn't really that exciting for an ending, in my humble opinion.
• Where was the Hydra, the big water snake spotted in one of the infamous trailers?
• Where was the sequence in which a Strider limboes underneath a bridge? I recognized a similar bridge building across from the big gap, just after the huge city-square firefight surrounding Alyx and the generator though. Same building?
• I can't help but feeling it was a tad bit short. I guess that's where Ep 1, 2, 3 etc come into play.

Thank you kindly for your patience. I'll see ya again when I finish some of the episodic expansions in say, a year or 2

 

[Rapstah]

• Where was the Hydra, the big water snake spotted in one of the infamous trailers?
• Where was the sequence in which a Strider limboes underneath a bridge? I recognized a similar bridge building across from the big gap, just after the huge city-square firefight surrounding Alyx and the generator though. Same building?

I am going to be so pissed if Duke Nukem Forever isn't exactly as it was in E3 2001.

 

[ríomhaire]

"Where was the Hydra, the big water snake spotted in one of the infamous trailers?"
It was cut because it wasn't fun to fight.

 

[Kevin]

Sorry to have to tell you this, but the things you are complaining about are indeed from the beta version. They were cut.

 

[Saltpeter]

Oh alright, too bad. I just thought the Hydra looked pretty damn cool

 

[Planetary]

It might be back, you never know...

 

[CLASSIFIED]

Oh alright, too bad. I just thought the Hydra looked pretty damn cool

Yeah it looked damn cool, and it also worked very nice in different maps (I read the Valve catalog) but as said above, it wasn't fun the way it was done. It could come back improved in the future. The idea of the hydra wasn't really part of the big project, it was a side project and it actually worked pretty well except for the fact that overall it wasn't that fun. Again, maybe they will improve that and add it later.

Yeah I though it was a downside too that there were no "bosses" and nice puzzles to how to kill 'em just like in the first game.

Lucky you you didn't watch the E3 "spoilers". If only I could play HL2 for the first time without having an idea who the hell are the combines, it would be much more mysterious but due to the release delays (special thanks to the cracker who's in jail now days). There was plenty of information and footage given about the game long before it was out so when I played it, it didn't feel like anything new and it just ruined the over grown anticipations (but still was fun to play and get on with the storyline). Spoilers are bad... bad!!

 

[Saltpeter]

Yeah, that's the main reason I tend not to search for any information whatsoever. I did it for HL2, and for Ep 1 goes the same thing. I only want to know if it's good, but I don't want to know why.

The same problem is with cinematical trailers these days by the way...they tend to show more than what's good for the movie.

Nonetheless, I'm still hoping for the Hydra to make a comeback, hehe.

 

[Headcrab Pie]

I heard somewhere that the Hydra was to hard to code or somthing...I donno.

 

[Hellrider]

They said the Hydra was too hard to fight (and to code) and it had some bugs too I think.
Was cool though, reminds the tentacles from HL1.

 

[kupocake]

http://www.halflife2.net/wiki/index.php/Hydra

Because I did it, and everyone forgot that the wiki exists.

 

[Naph]

http://www.halflife2.net/wiki/index.php/Hydra

Because I did it, and everyone forgot that the wiki exists.

That's it? I thought someone cleverly photoshoped the water temple boss from ocarina of time

 

[Cheomesh]

What's this about a strider limboing under a bridge?

 

[Laivasse]

What's this about a strider limboing under a bridge?

Haven't you heard about the famous axed 'Caribbean levels'?

Alyx was going to wear nothing but a lei and a grass skirt, and at one point you were supposed to save a beach party from a Combine turret that launched coconuts.

 

[leib10]

Post of the week.

 

[soulslicer]

I can't help but feeling it was a tad bit short. I guess that's where Ep 1, 2, 3 etc come into play.

erm...haha ha..

 

[Narvi]

I remember the strider limbo video.

That scene was cut though. The closest you would get is when the strider comes at you in the underground tunnel.

 

[Paulaner]

The 3D engine. I had a blast with those physics puzzles.

You are totally right. The physics engine of HL2 blew my mind away. Smooth, realistic and much better than most today hyped games (i.e. Bioshock).
And the graphics... OK, I'm not much of a gamer but the graphics of this "old" game leave me speechless even now, at this very moment.

 

[Saltpeter]

I remember the strider limbo video.

That scene was cut though. The closest you would get is when the strider comes at you in the underground tunnel.

Yeah, indeed. I reckoned that was one of the nastier bits...it took me a while to not-give-a-shit, exit that tunnel and face the Strider.

Returning to the Hydra, wouldn't it be possible to engineer a 'Blast Pit'-ish puzzle around that? A puzzle in which you have to travel through various small passageways in one and the same building, constantly being haunted by Hydra's that lurk in the building's sewers and come breaking through grates. Of course, just as the tentacles, they should have a weakness. Say, fire?

Oohhh, the ideas, the ideas...*drools*

 

[Rapstah]

Looked awesome when fighting NPCs, but when the player faced it it was just a blue blob coming really fast and instantly killing them.

Cut.

 

[Cheomesh]

Yeah, indeed. I reckoned that was one of the nastier bits...it took me a while to not-give-a-shit, exit that tunnel and face the Strider.

Returning to the Hydra, wouldn't it be possible to engineer a 'Blast Pit'-ish puzzle around that? A puzzle in which you have to travel through various small passageways in one and the same building, constantly being haunted by Hydra's that lurk in the building's sewers and come breaking through grates. Of course, just as the tentacles, they should have a weakness. Say, fire?

Oohhh, the ideas, the ideas...*drools*

Blast Pit was epic. Sort of hope we see some tentacles in the outlands some day.

 

[Gordon-Shepherd]

you've encouraged me to replay hl2.

 

[Saltpeter]

You're quite welcome.

 

[Asknoone]

I thought HL2 was too long.

 

[CLASSIFIED]

I thought HL2 was too long.

lol yeah it was long but HL1 was longer. I hope all 3 episodes together gonna be at least as long as HL2 if not longer